ADHRRF – On July 12, 2018, in front of Kleine Kirche in the center of Karlsruhe, Germany, the International Society for Human Rights (ISHR) Karlsruhe Working Group launched a signature petition for the Christians from China, Iran, Iraq and other countries facing repatriation for their asylum applications having been rejected. The petition is a call on the German government, hoping that they will not repatriate Christians who fled to Germany because of persecution.
Dr. Wolfgang Link (head of the ISHR Karlsruhe working group), Ms. Agnes Straub (the former senior adviser of the Religious Freedom Group of ISHR and the present spokeswoman for the ISHR Karlsruhe working group) and some other people participated in the event and appealed for the persecuted Christians.
The site of the event was decorated with the banners bearing slogans such as “Christians faced with a threat of death if repatriated” and “Acceptance of persecuted Christians is not an abuse of asylum law,” calling on the German government to grant asylum applications of those Christians. On that day, the persecution situation of Chinese Christians caught the attention of some Germans. The fact that the Chinese authorities suppress, arrest, and even torture Christians to death shocked them. They signed a petition one after another, hoping that the German government will know the truth of Christians persecution and not repatriate them to China.
It is understood that currently, more than 360 Chinese Christians in Germany applied for asylum to the authorities, among whom 307 have been rejected and may be repatriated at any time. Commenting on those Christians’ serious situation, Dr. Wolfgang Link said, “The Chinese government is indeed persecuting Christians particularly cruelly, and it is getting worse and worse. The very aim of our activity today is to broaden awareness of the persecution of Christians in Germany and collect signatures to support them not to be repatriated.”
Friedrich Walz, a retired pastor, said, “The public and political circles know little about these persecuted Chinese Christians. We will continue to work hard to circulate the truth of the persecution of Chinese Christians.” He said he would continue to help these Christians fight for their rights to stay in Germany.
Ms. Straub said, “There is no true freedom of religious belief in China. The Chinese government claims that Chinese people enjoy the freedom of religious belief, but it is a lie. Actually, in China, both house churches and underground churches are suffering severe persecution at the hand of the CCP, especially in the case of The Church of Almighty God which is persecuted most severely. We need to let the public know all of these. I was shocked by the reports of the Association for the Defense of Human Rights and Religious Freedom (ADHRRF). I have never imagined that the CCP uses such brutal means to torture Christians from house churches and underground churches.”
Ms. Straub added that they have already written to the management of Federal Office for Migration and Refugees to call on the authorities to reconsider their decisions of the asylum applications of persecuted Chinese Christians, because the persecutions that Chinese Christians suffered are even more serious than Muslims.
